June 24, 2004 – Beaver Falls, PA – The Ruman Team was busy last weekend at the SCCA BeaveRun Nationals, fielding Amy Ruman in the McNichols/Cenweld Corvette in GT-1 and Niki Ruman in Spec Racer. Coming off of her win two weeks ago at the GT-1 Mid-Ohio National, Amy was geared up for another victory.
On Saturday, Amy looked to be dominant in the GT-1 race after posting a qualifying time of 55.9 under the track record, and more than half a second faster than the second place qualifier. In the final minutes of qualifying, Amy had the number 23 McNichols/Cenweld Corvette on a hot lap when she crested the pit-straight hill and entered turn one, a rather blind turn. She exited the turn just as Bob Thummel’s GT-2 Porsche had spun in the middle of the track and was facing opposite race direction. While Ruman swerved to avoid the car, slowing from 80 mph to 53 mph in .7 seconds (based on the data), there was not time to completely avoid the nearly head-on crash. Both cars sustained severe damage. Ruman was transported to the local hospital and released with a severely sprained right ankle. Due to both Ruman’s injury and the damage to the McNichols/Cenweld Corvette, Ruman did not race on Sunday.
“I was so disappointed this happened because I was going for a second win this season. This was just so unfortunate for both of us. My data showed that the impact was between 7-8 g-forces. I am really happy that no one was seriously hurt in the incident. We hit so hard that I thought I broke my ankle, but the x-rays show just a sprain. Hopefully, I will be back in action for the National at Watkins Glen in July,” stated Ruman.
Ruman’s local newspaper, the Akron Beacon Journal was in attendance this weekend writing a feature story about Ruman, the team, and her family. The story is to run on either Sunday, June 27 or early next week. You can also access the Akron Beacon Journal online at www.ohio.com/mld/ohio.
Niki Ruman had a great weekend, qualified and finished 10th in the 24-car spec racer field. “I had a fun race, dueling primarily with Ray Senkevich and Gregory Grucella for 9th, 10th, and 11th. The three of us were back and forth, drafting and weaving our way through traffic. We had a very competitive, clean race. I tried very hard to get a run on Ray the final lap, but just couldn’t make it stick up the hill to the checkered,” explained Niki.
On Deck: Bob Ruman at the July 1-2 Trans-Am Series at the Cleveland Grand Prix, OH
Amy Ruman at the July 10-11 SCCA National at Watkins Glen International, NY
www.rumanracing.com
